Originally Posted by thbe

Thailand was the first country to open in SEA and other countries tried to learn from Thailand. I.e. Singapore copied Thailand‘s concept for months.

All was set to an ongoing easing of entry restrictions - until omicron came up. In December/January there was a fight between PM, MFA and TAT on one side and the Vice-PM/MOH on the other side. It wasn‘t really about entry restrictions, but about the Vice-PM wanted the PM‘s job. We‘ve seen a huge throw back about entry restrictions at that time.

But that is over. All ministries in Thailand want to ease the entry restrictions as much as possible now. For several reasons they need a couple of months for that. But it‘s very likely, that all restrictions will be gone after July 1. That is not just a forecast, that is the current plan of the Thai government. They‘ve published that plan a couple of days ago.

Since the reopening, I‘ve been to Thailand seven times. I know and I‘ve seen, that it‘s not just about easing entry restrictions. In the tourists areas almost everything was closed for more than a year. People gave up their businesses. People applied to other jobs. People went back to their home towns. Airlines cancelled their flights. Vietnam, Cambodia and Philippines will need months to ramp up their tourism industries to 50%. Thailand is miles ahead of them. And countries like Vietnam and especially Cambodia will need BKK to get the tourists into their country.